I grabbed some Valentina and it really is quite delicious.
Let me ask another question - hot sauce; stored in the fridge or on the counter? Does it matter? I usually store mine in the fridge, but I kept the Valentina out for now.
I bought a bottle of that years ago and ended up throwing it out. I like chipotle-flavored sauces, but it just tasted cheap and synthetic. Bottom-shelf stuff.
Now you wanna talk unconventional hot sauces…
This is kecap sambal (or vice versa), a traditional Indonesian condiment made from chili peppers, shallots, and sweet soy sauce. It’s viscous, evil-looking stuff, but delicious. Kind of like chunky, spicy hoisin sauce.
Good to know, haven’t had a chance to try it yet. I’ll give it a whirl but look for something else.
I really love the Valentina. It’s just something else. Man, today was a real cooking adventure, but wrong thread, and my medicine is kinda kicking on and making sleep sound real awesome…
Tapatio is also an excellent egg hot sauce, and it is on average 3 times cheaper than Cholula, which is my main problem with Cholula. I can get 3 different hot sauces for the price of a single bottle of Cholula.
That reminds me, I ran into this when shopping yesterday and I thought it would an appropriate pic for this thread.
I do fridge but only for a few. As with any food, the key is what’s in them to keep them fresh. Vinegar and salt are the keys, but the issue is that they are not always in an amount that makes me think safe for the counter. The joke though is that white people refrigerate sauces, and Hispanic people do not.
So a little investigation on recommendations from the makers:
Cholula: “Cholula Hot Sauce does not need to be kept cool. Cholula Hot Sauce is best used within the first six months after opening.”
Tapatio: “No refrigeration needed. Two year shelf life.”
Valentina: “No refrigeration needed.”
Tobasco: “TABASCO® Sauce should be stored in a cool place away from direct light, such as a cupboard, pantry or cabinet. It doesn’t have to be refrigerated after opening. Once a bottle of sauce is opened, the color may change, but the product won’t spoil.”
El Yucateco: “Keep in a fresh, dry place.”
Sriracha: “No need for refrigeration, keep in a dry place out of direct sunlight.” (Not from manufacturer.)
The Pepper Plant: “Refrigerate sauces after opening.”
Frank’s Red Hot: “We recommend that Frank’s RedHot Sweet Chili® and Frank’s RedHot® Slammin’ Sriracha® Chili Sauce be refrigerated after opening; All other sauces do not have to be, but, doing so will keep the product fresher for a longer period of time.”
Summary … usually the bottle tells you when it needs to be refrigerated. Otherwise, no, the salt/vinegar keeps it mostly fresh. I don’t use some of mine fast enough, therefore I have a few in the fridge.
I’ve tried not refrigerating Sriracha. It turned an unappetizing dark red over time, though it seemed to still be edible.
It’s one of the few I refrigerate as well. If they come in a tiny glass bottle they go in my cupboard. Otherwise, the side shelf in the fridge is as good a place as any.
Story time: My girlfriend and I were not able to find my bottle of Frank’s Red Hot one evening when we decided to make some wings. So we cancelled wing night and the next week she bought som Frank’s Red Hot. She placed it in the fridge. Cue me deciding to cook for the next weekend and making wings. I go to the cabinets and actually find some in a side cabinet. I looks a little dark and I think that’s strange. I also think it’s strange she put it in there. So I use it. Things go fine, the wings were great. Then as she’s putting some leftovers in the fridge, she asks me how I made the hot sauce for the wings without Frank’s, which was still unopened in the fridge. Apparently the bottle I had found was somewhere around 2-3 years old, best we can tell.
Looked different, still fine. Your mileage may vary.
I’ll throw in my vote for Sriracha. Love the stuff.
I don’t refrigerate and have also noticed it darkening over time, but without any noticeable change to its flavor.
There’s also an imitation sauce I’ve seen called Texas Pete’s that is very similar and also tasty.
I refrigerate my hotsauces, but that’s mostly because we are running out of space in the oil/vinegar/spices shelf.
My wife insists we use hot sauce sparingly and only in dishes that require it. To her, it’s like pouring ketchup on everything, that it will mask the taste of her food which she so lovingly creates. My argument is that if I’m putting it on something, it’s because there’s a blandness there that could use some pepping up… but it’s really hard to make that argument without sounding like I’m dissing her food… which, I guess, I would be. So I mostly break it out for oven pizzas, burgers, sausage, things that are simple and made for condiment-adding.
My absolute favorite is garlic Tobasco. The garlic part does mute the hotness somewhat, so it’s milder than just the base tobasco sauce, but that also means you can put more of it on pizza/sandwiches, etc. I used to buy gallon jugs of the stuff straight from Tobasco. But after I got married my wife put a stop to that. And I can’t find garlic tobasco locally in small bottles, so that’s out. So these days it’s mostly Sriracha and Cholula and Aldi’s version of Frank’s Red Hot. All are good on different types of foods. But I do miss my garlic tobasco sometimes.
@spiffy I’ve had a similar conversation with others about seasoned food, aka salted. I’ve eaten food cooked by people that used no salt at all during cooking and when I reached for salt to add they were put off by that fact, similar to your wife and hot sauce.
I have even more of an issue with that because it’s key in cooking. Season your foods. To be honest, heat is a major part of some cuisines, so if you get dishes you expect to have heat that have none, it’s off-putting. I’m looking at all the bland chili makers out there right now.
Chili without either ancho or chipotle flavor is no chili at all.
Mmm mmmm, my favorite, wet meat and tomato!
Seriously, if it’s not gonna have a little kick to it, just make Manwiches.
K, I am mostly saying that cuz I thought it was funny. In truth, I more or less stopped chasing the heat dragon about 4-5 years ago and mostly focus on achieving the best flavor possible. Of which heat can absolutely be a component–even a major one (e.g., vindaloo). But reading about all those goofy fuckers dumping rebadged pepper spray into their chili by the tablespoonful just makes me sad. . .
But, seriously, me too. I like hot, and there is very little, perhaps nothing, that exceeds my personal spice tolerance (I’ve had ghost peppers before). But now that’s only ever on a lark anymore. If I’m cooking I definitely go for milder but better taste if called for. Dried peppers with that smokey flavor are where it is at, especially in chili. Ancho is one of my favorite flavor profiles, period. Second only to sun dried tomato perhaps.
Remind me to evangelize about Chicken Zaki’s to you in a more appropriate thread :P
You’re my coworker. Interestingly he’s affected our lunch group pushing the envelope and having us try things he’s ordered. We now all frequently go all out on Thai days. Their peppered sauces are just so much better when the spice level is up there.
I can eat up to small amounts of habanero just eating the pepper. But more than that and it needs to be diluted in a dish. I’ve love to experiment more though, as growing peppers is pretty damned rewarding.
I forgot how not-spicy-at-all Cholula is. For Mexican food it isn’t the best. I’d put Valentia black label and Tapatio above it and you can buy both for under the cost of Cholula. I tried Sriracha with Mexican food once. It doesn’t work.